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Britain will face “dire consequences” if it does not secure a clean departure from the European Union, Theresa May warned as she packed her manifesto for next month's general election.

The Prime Minister said that if the Tories win the general election her Government would “not seek to fudge this issue - to be half-in and half-out of the EU”.

She committed the Tories to taking Britain completely out of both the single market and the customs’ union, and cutting net immigration into the UK to fewer than 100,000 a year, something she failed to do in her six years as home secretary.

The strength of the commitment in the manifesto will make it very hard for the House of Lords, where the Tories do not have a majority, to frustrate her Brexit plans when they are voted on by peers.

Mrs May said that securing the best deal for Britain outside the EU was the single most important challenge facing her Government over the next five years.

Brexit is listed as one of five "giant challenges" in the Conservative manifesto, alongside the economy, social divisions, an ageing society and technology.

Mrs May said: “Make no mistake, the central challenge we face is negotiating the best deal for Britain in Europe.

“Our future prosperity, our place in the world, our standard of living, and the opportunities we want for our children – and our children’s children – each and every one depends on having the strongest possible hand as we enter those negotiations in order to get the best Brexit deal for families across this country.

“If we fail, the consequences for Britain and for the economic security of ordinary working people will be dire. If we succeed, the opportunities ahead of us are great.

“I have negotiated for Britain in Europe. And I know that the best place to start is to be clear about where you stand and what you want.

“That is why I have been clear that we do not seek to fudge this issue - to be half-in and half-out of the EU.

“The British people made their choice. I respect that. And I respect the view of other European leaders who agree we can’t be half-in, half-out either.

“So we will leave the European Union and take control of our money, take control of our borders and take control of our laws.

“We will forge a new deep and special partnership with Europe, but reach out beyond Europe to strike new trade deals for our goods and services with old allies and new friends around the world too.

“We will make the decisions that matter to Britain here in Britain and be a great, global trading nation that stands tall in the world once again.”

The manifesto makes clear that Mrs May would consider paying a “fair settlement” to leave the EU to cover the UK’s obligations to the EU.

It says: “There may be specific European programmes in which we might want to participate and if so it will be reasonable that we make a contribution.

“We will determine a fair settlement of the UK’s rights and obligations as a departing member state, in accordance with the law and in the spirit of the UK’s continuing partnership with the EU.

“The principle, however, is clear: the principle of Britain making vast contributions to the European Union will end.”

Estimates of the Brexit divorce bill have range from paying nothing at all to Eu100billion. Any final deal will “be subject to a vote in both houses of parliament”, the manifesto adds.

The manifesto says the Government will maintain the current Common Travel Area in northern and southern Ireland – which allows people and goods to travel across the border - but suggests there may be some border restrictions.

It says: “We will maintain the Common Travel Area and maintain as frictionless a border as possible for people, goods and services between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Theresa MayCredit:
Danny Lawson/PA

Britain will also continue to “protect the democratic freedom of the people of Gibraltar and our overseas territories to remain British for as long as that is their wish”, the manifesto says.

On immigration, the manifesto says that net number of people settling in the UK every year – 273,000 a year – is “too high” and commits the next Conservative government to cutting the figure to fewer than 100,000 a year.

It says: “It is our objective to reduce immigration to sustainable levels, by which we mean annual net migration in the tens of thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands we have seen over the last two decades.”

Measures to cut migration from outside the EU include increasing the earnings threshold for people sponsoring migrants on family visas, and requiring foreign students to leave the country at the end of their courses. Overseas students will continue to be counted in the official immigration statistics.

The Tories will also establish a new “United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund” which is “specifically designed to reduce inequalities between communities across our four nations”.

The manifesto says that the fund “will be cheap to administer, low in bureaucracy and targeted where it is needed most”.

Britain will become “fully responsible for the access and management of the waters where we have historically exercised sovereign control” after leaving the EU.

It says a new Conservative government will take Britain out of the 1964 London Fisheries Convention which allows European fishing vessels to access waters to within 12 nautical miles from British shores.

Pulling out of the agreement will take two years. But it will enable the UK to assert control over its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

The document says the Tories “will work with the fishing industry and with our world-class marine scientists, as well as the devolved administrations, to introduce a new regime for commercial fishing that will preserve and increase fish stocks and help to ensure prosperity for a new generation of fishermen”.